The Spring of Sam
by Rey Pescador
Summary: After being kidnapped Reid looks for a missing Unsub and his memory of what happened.
1. Chapter 1

"Why Hartford, Doctor Reid?"

Spencer mimicked a comfortable smile. "That depends on what context you're referring to ma'am."

"Doctor Reid, until this past week, I can't remember ever having an issue with you. As you're well aware, I can make life your boss extremely... uncomfortable. With that knowledge, and your present problem, I think you may appreciate being more helpful."  
Reid began cautiously, "I got a call a month ago." He spun the octagonal glass of water clockwise small quarter turns as he took a long pause.

"Doctor Reid." She spat.

A tear rolled down his bruised right eye. Simultaneously the splashing of the drop onto the cold dark table top triggered Spencer to quickly raise the glass. The violent jerk was such that it tossed two ice cubes and a majority of the water across his arm. The algid water and both cubes of ice landed harshly on a deep, poorly stitched gash. It both hurt and soothed the discomfort the cut was causing him. It took a little extra effort for him to raise the glass to his dry lips and finish the small gulp that was left.

"Since we've been at this nearly an hour and you can't seem to think sensibly and say anything," the Ice Queen stood and turned her back on Reid. "I think we done here."

Morgan's lip quivered. He could see Reid's temper modeled across his bruised face for the first time in nearly four years. Hotchner put his hand onto Morgan's muscular shoulder as to hold him back. To stop him from interrupting, even though Aaron wanted to go in and stop everything that was unfolding beyond the one way glass directly in front of him.

Forcibly Reid slammed the glass top first onto the black aluminum table. The cheap snifter broke in to six pieces, one slid neatly through the webbing of his thumb and index finger. "Dammit Strauss," Spencer stammered, "Dep... Deputy Director Strauss," Reid nodded and whimpered, "He told me that he had my mother!" The pain should have stunned his brain but just didn't register with him. The last two days of mental and physical battery had left him anesthetized. He was more shocked at his own over reaction than it seemed Section Chief Strauss was, "He said he had my mom." He raised both hands to his face pushing the glass almost clean out of his hand, he began to weep harder than he could remember crying since he'd had his mother committed.

Her face clinched in self control. Both Morgan and Hotchner could see a whisper of humanity in her cold demeanor. It cooled their profuse distaste for her, only as much a tablespoon of water cools a glowing fire poker. "We need to get that looked at." She gestured to the once again bleeding wound at the bottom of his bicep. He dropped his hand it was smothered in blood and the cracks continued to fill with crimson like the striping of some Warhalesque zebra. "Normally let emotion sway me Doctor Reid, my job is to protect this institution, not you. But given the threats," she swallowed hard, "against your family and your atypical irrationality I'm going to give you a little more of my time. That is if, and I can't stress the word if enough, you try to restrain yourself."

Morgan was waiting for her to walk out the door at his left. "I think-" he began.

Erin Strauss lifted her hand to silence him while she robotically closed the door behind her before addressing him, "We may pay you to think, but I don't need your opinion on this case. Not now!" She walked away before she could finish. Hotch started to follow the paramedic, Morgan had called for, into Reid's interrogation room. "Agent Hotchner," Strauss didn't have to turn around, "I would really appreciate you not going in there."

Erin seemed not hear what she said, "There have been plenty of circumstances you could have taken my badge; it goes without saying we are all aware that you want to." He was holding the handle of the door firmly enough that his knuckles were as white as his stern eyes, "If you're looking for another reason, I'd suggest you making that an order -"

"That is Agent-" She tried to interrupt him, before being cut off herself.

Hotch continued a little louder, "so I can disobey it." He shut the door behind himself quickly so as not to hear anything else she had to say. "What happened Reid?" He directed at his blood stained friend.

Spencer looked terribly scared and intimidated by the confrontational attitude Hotch continued to project towards Reid. The way Hotch was speaking to him was much like Hotch treats a Unsub, "I... I'm... I" Reid was shaking and sputtering, unable to finish his sentence.

"Spencer, we are your friends. Your family. I want to believe and will help you," Hotch was much more restrained, and became more so as he sat down, "I will help you. I've said what I am about to say to many people, I never wanted to say it to you." It took him a few moments to finish, and left it much more purposeful, "Just help us, to help you Spencer."

The Paramedic, using a pair of tweezers, gripped the thin crescent of glass, "Son, I guaranty this is going to hurt."

"Okay." He said in his exaggerated uncomfortable tone, "Thank you Hotch, Morgan, I know your listening" He wiped away tears and blood, "Thank you." As the paramedic pulled the shard from Reid's palm he yelped. The scream that followed started silent, and grew more audibly nauseating as the young bearded medic began to clean the heavily bleeding ragged pierce.

Morgan didn't want to stand alone in the room. He'd seen lots of miserably grim and grotesque scenes, both in pictures and person. But to see one of his closest friends, someone that he was so protective of, in that kind of distress spattered and streaked with his own blood weeping from pain and angst. Morgan began moving down the long hallway towards the stairs. He turned away as the jagged shard pulled uncomfortably from Reid's flesh. It was getting too much for his sleep deprived and violence rattle mind. The cluster-fuck of unpredictable insanity that was the previous week had managed to stain his soul black and scarlet in a way that few other cases did. The more the whole miserable job of finding Reid, and Sam rolled around his sleep deprived mind. The more he thought of it the faster his feet moved him up the countless steps from the basement to their fifth floor office.

Stone faced he opened the door overlooking the bull pen. "Unit Chief Strauss!" Morgan had been running so hard and fast up the bland winding stairs he had just barely made it in time to see her start around the corner. The ever busy bullpen, scampering all the faster that day came to a halt as if a sports car slammed into a redwood. "We need to talk ma'am!" The room was silent aside from the whirring of the fans in all the computers; the only acknowledgment he got was the slam of her office door.

"Take a breath Derek." Gideon's composed voice was the only thing holding Morgan back from kicking down her door. His hand was quivering, until Gideon slowly breathed for him from across the room in his typical relaxed manner.

Slowly the room returned to its consistent controlled frenzy. Morgan and Gideon watched each other from across the room. It took Morgan a second to move again. Once he did again it was at a fast pace. He hopped up the short set of stairs and moved swiftly to Rossi's office where Gideon was waiting for him. "I'm glad you're alright man."

Gideon smiled and gestured him into the meticulously organized room where Garcia was sitting. "Hey handsome," Penelope smiled her bright wide smile, "you too hot chocolate!"

Morgan walked into Reid's interrogation room with a Nalgene bottle of ice and water and a dripping wash cloth. "We've been talking about you upstairs kid." He put the bottle into Reid's bandaged hand. "There are six dead people in that building."

Reid's demeanor wasn't his typical nerdy ungainliness, he was tired and utterly emotionless. "I killed two people yesterday." Reid blinked and dropped his head, "How's Rossi?" The last statement came like Reid was coming out of a deep sleep.

"What do you remember?"

"Rossi, is he okay?" He shrugged, "I don't know Derek. Honestly. Rossi-"

Morgan's agitation spiked. "Dammit!" He slammed his hand on the table, forcing an envelope of pictures onto the aluminum. "Reid, pull it together man, he's fine. You drove him to the hospital."

"You know, slamming your hand on the table wont jog my memory." Spencer was struck by his own insolence, "I'm sorry, I know your trying Morgan, but this hasn't been a really easy week for me; and from what you just said, its not looking like it's gonna get any better in the next few hours." He opened the top and took a big gulp, "I did what?" His words were clear now that his throat was a little more moist.

Morgan relaxed, sitting down and looking Reid in the eye, "You alright buddy?" He gave Reid a quizzical look and opened the folder, "If you are then we need to go on. The city has a dead mayor, a room full of cut up theologians, professors, doctors, and a missing Unsub to boot. We were lucky to get you back to Quantico in one piece, for a host of reasons." He pulled out a picture of an aging business woman. "Mayor Juelvez, was shot in both eye's at close range with your gun."

"What? I didn't do that, I couldn't have."

"Reid, you can't remember driving Rossi to Hartford Hospital. I would like to think that I know you well enough that you didn't do this. Your far too rational, but you took a hell of a beating there and a fist full of Caapi Vine. I'm not surprised you aren't able to remember much." He turned the packet to his beaten friend, and leaned forward, "I just need to know what from this envelope you remember."

"Let me tell you Derek Morgan you are one lucky man." Strauss was in mid sentence as she walked in to the harshly lit room so Reid couldn't answer Morgan. "I'm fairly sure you are too Doctor Reid."

"None but the Deity can tell what is good luck and what is bad before the returns are all in." Reid smacked his lips after he took a deep gulp of the plastic flavored water.

"Don't be a wise ass!" She snapped at Reid. Morgan just had to look at him to convey the same basic message.

Spencer lifted his eyebrow, "I thought a Samuel Clemens quote might be apt since we just left Hartford." He looked ashamed over his not so average conversational style.

"It's a nice quote man, I just want to know what 'good luck'", he gestured the 'quote marks' mockingly, "she has for us." Morgan patted Reid on the forearm that was flipping through the folder of photos and crime scene notes. He looked intently at the Unit Chief before continuing, "Since it's one of the few times I ever remember bringing us any." He leaned back in the wooden chair that creaked loudly as he stretched out his legs, and crossed his arms.

Strauss didn't seem too impressed by the bitter and un-welcoming repoire she was receiving. "How sweet of you Morgan." She smirked, "The only reason that you may be lucky is because your colleague, at this moment is."

"I think I speak for both of us when I say that you have our attention." Reid lifted his head as if in agreement with Morgan.

She pulled out the third and final chair in the room and took a seat. "The coroners report just hit my desk. It would seem that Doctor Reid here," she gestured apathetically to Spencer, "couldn't have done this."

Reid squinted his brow, "I know I'm supposed to be defending myself," he put both of his hands on the desk, hoping that would show his boss that he did't in fact have anything but constraint and open ears, "its just intriguing to me that you went from it being all but unequivocally me, to it can't be."

"Well Agent, Mayor Juelvez was murdered at the same time you were getting released from Hartford Hospital." She smiled at him and for that short moment she seemed genuine, "I was gonna rake you across the keel of this preverbal boat. But your one of the best minds The Bureau has ever seen. With that knowlage I'm going to release you to the custody of Former Agent Jason Gideon who has agreed to fill Agent Rossi's place for the case because of the personal touch it has presented to us; and because of you." She looked hard at Reid, "You are going to remain unarmed for this case and until such time you can complete a full report on the happenings at the old Colt building." She collected the papers that were spread across the table, "Since your claiming Amnesia, I would like to read what you remember without it being contaminated." She got to the door before turning around to the two men still sitting down, "Are you going to get up and find this guy, who killed a Mayor and some of Hartford's best minds or, are you gonna just sit in this cold second basement looking stupid?"


	2. Chapter 2

In someway the round table didn't look right to Reid. He was consciously aware that the room was exactly the same as it always had been. But being kidnaped once again, shooting his friend, and being heavily drugged yet again by an Unsub, left him feeling like the world around him was soft. "Do you want to go home, and take a nap Spence?" He didn't want to. Regardless of how uncomfortable he felt, "Come on hun, I'll give you a ride."

Gideon rubbed his head, "I think I may do the same thing."

"Well, didn't we get far?" Prentiss laughed, "Honestly, I could use a little rest myself. I'll see you bright and earlier tomorrow guys," she got up and haphazardly tossed all of her papers into her side bag, "You want some company JJ?"

Smiling a smile they hadn't seen in a long time since her husband got killed on his first day of his new job in Washington D.C.. "Let's go Spence, you look like hell."

"Thank you!" He laughed to dull his sarcasm. "Get some rest Emily. We have an Unsub to find."

They left the room together, JJ helping Reid who was more than a little rubber legged. Prentice giggled softly, "I do have to say that it nice to see her smile again." She started towards the door, "Well, I'm gonna follow our teammates lead, have a good night." Emily closed the door behind her.

Gideon shrugged and put on his glasses. He began looking through the files that were already put together, "We had a profile on this guy, but there seems to be only one problem."

Morgan poured himself a cup of coffee from the stainless steel insulated carafe that was on their table. "Aren't you going home?" Morgan went to take a big gulp before realizing how hot it really was, "Fuck that's hot." Gideon began laughing at him in a mild manner, "You're back for less than five hours and already laughing at me again. Go get some rest you got drugged yourself."

"I'm gonna be fine Derek." Jason shrugged and went back to his papers, "Like I was saying, there's a problem." Morgan moved closer, right here pointed at the floor of the room where the bodies were. The mayor was positioned against a support beam and in front of her feet leading towards a window was a long trail of blood.

Morgan knew what that trail, the drag marks meant. He knew someone had dragged Sam across the floor to the window. Though it was possible it was Gideon or Reid in an hallucinogenic stupor the chances leaned towards it being a second Unsub. "Alright man, let's take a look at this, I'll call everyone back." Morgan reached for his phone, and punched in Prentiss' number, "I know you just left, and must have just reached your car, but I need you to come back up."

She sighed so hard Gideon was able to hear her from across the table. "I'll be right up." Prentiss went to hang up and muttered, "Asshole!"

Morgan could only laugh, "Alright, so Reid and Jenn, call Hotch for me."

"I'm back for no more than five hours and your already bossing me around?" Gideon went to pour himself a cup of coffee. "No, I think the three of us can get a good start, I'll call for a Pizza." He put one hand on Morgan's cell hand, "Is Vocelli's still around?"

"How about a little Chinese on the side?" Prentiss already had here phone at the ready.

"I'm happy to pay and pick it up, I just need to get out of here for a little while."

Gideon nodded, "I completely understand."

"That doesn't mean that I'm not interested in what you boy's dug up for me." She moved closer to take a look at the photo Morgan and Gideon were hunched over. "Someone drug her out of there." She couldn't help but reach for her phone, "I've got to tell Reid and JJ." She called JJ first and followed that up by calling Reid when she didn't answer.

Reid had no intention of answering either, but felt compelled to. JJ took the phone from him and tossed it to the back seat of her car. "We're not going back Reid." She winked seductively at him, a move that he quite obviously missed. "Here, text one of the boy's and tell them we will be in at 0500." Reid obeyed what she told him to do, once he finished it didn't take long for them to get to JJ's house. "You hungry Spence?"

"Have I ever told you that you're the only one who calls me that?"

She put her hand on his thigh, "For someone who has an close to perfect memory you forgot about our Redskin's game." She gave him another wink, one that he was able to pick up on, "But thats not really an answer."

"Um, well" He began, "I could eat." Spencer smiled his typical vexed simper and leaned, twisting into the back and grabbed his phone, "why did you have to throw it so far?" He spoke to the never before used back of the backseat, "You knocked the-" Reid was stretching for the battery that she knocked out before she pulled him back to the seat by his belt, and straddled him.

Lip locked they stumbled there way into the house and directly passed the Nanny that she had hired three years earlier. It took both Reid and JJ a moment to notice the young Somalian woman watching them tearing at each other like a pair of rabid-lascivious-teens. "I need to talk to Mary and say goodnight to Henry. Go upstairs, and hop in bed."

"Thought we were gonna eat."

JJ shock her head flirtatiously, "I was hoping that you will be in a few minutes."

Spencer's cell rang about Two a.m., "Listen Morgan, we're gonna be there in a few hours can't we," he caught himself in mid-sentence, "I, mean I get a little more sleep."

"Who's the bitch Spence?" Sam's angry voice came over the phone.

JJ lifted her head off of Reid's chest when he sat up. "I thought that you said I was the only one who called you Spence." She said rather flirtatiously, "What's going on?" JJ whispered when she saw the panicked concern in his face.

"Sam? Where are you?" Reid scowled in a worried sort of way, "Call Garcia and the team." he mouthed to JJ.

She turned to her desk and grabbed franticly for her phone.

"You can tell Jennifer that I already have her phone, and have called everyone for you." Sam's voice was calmer until she started to scream, "Tell her!"

"Jenn," Spencer started calmly and directly, "your phone has been taken, and the team has been called."

She continued to look for her phone, for panics-sake.

"Tell her the call is being traced already, that I'm gonna leave the phone running and next to her whinny little brat," Sam paused, "Oh yes, and that she's gonna need a new nanny! A Peruvian one is the best!" The sound of the phone hitting Henry's forehead, bounced through Spencer's cell like a watermelon breaking over a microphone.

"Mommy, I want to go home." He was yelling loud enough that JJ could hear her son from the other side of the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Henry sat at a desk in the corner of the round table room. "Henry, are you hungry?" Morgan swiveled around in his seat to look at the boy. The work had come to a stall, especially for the people who had been working the whole night through. Henry nodded his head, "What do you want kiddo? Some pancakes?"

"I hate pancakes." Henry said emphatically, it was the only thing that he had said since they got him back.

Morgan got to his feet and crotched next to Henry, "Well lets go for a ride and get out of here. You tell me what you want to eat, I'll buy you anything." Morgan took him by the hand and started to lead him towards the door.

"Can I go mommy? Are you going to come with us?" Henry looked back at his mother, he was big for an six year old, but had the personality of one.

JJ smiled, "Come here and give me a hug baby." She opened her arm's to Henry who came running, "I need to work, you go with your uncle Derek and get something to eat." She looked at Morgan, "And make sure that he eats too, he doesn't like to hurt his girlish figure."

With a loving push she sent him on his way, "Go, I'll see you when you get back." Once he left with Morgan she turned around and said, "I wish the BAU had childcare." The team smiled sympathetically, "Well, what do we have?" She spoke more as a way to change subjects and move on that to be productive.

"Well, everyone who died or was abducted, aside from Henry, was dosed with an extreme amount of Caapi vine." Prentiss said in a very point of fact way.

"What's that mean?" Garcia looked up from her laptop, the team seemed surprised to see her there and turned their heads quickly, "What? Am I topless, cause I've had that dream a few times?" She looked down in a sarcastic manner, "Nope, seems fine, although that would make this more fun."

"Well, Caapi root is used mainly in South America, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, so forth... by Shaman tribesmen for religious and more specifically for healing. All Shaman's must go through prolonged use to prove they belive in the benefits Ayahuasca." Spencer continued, "Harvard University was the first group to write an English paper on the subject."

Gideon was smiling from his seat, "I missed you Spencer."

"Too much?" Reid was beginning to learn.

"We love you sweety." Garcia patted him on the back, "but I have found a collection of cases around the U.S. that involve Caapi root and murder."

JJ looked puzzled, "How could no one have noticed the correlation?"

"Well eight cities across the country is a lot," Garcia clicked print, "Sioux Falls seems fairly oblivious though." She paused, "Aren't you going to ask why?" Penelope didn't offer them any time to do as she commanded, "They had eighteen deaths involving Caapi and left the case open without giving us a call." She looked harshly at the screen, "but these seem to be spread out over a long time, and it's only the last six that were stabbing murders."

Gideon looked at her beyond his glasses, "I'd be willing to say that your computer is telling you these are the earliest deaths on file related to this." As Garcia nodded he continued without needing her confirmation, "That mean's we have a place to start. What else?"

JJ was starting to cry, "She knows where I live! She took Henry," She pulled herself together enough, and just enough to finish, "He took Reid." She had a look on her face of shame and fear tossed together like a chemical Molotov cocktail bursting in her soul.

"If you need to take a break from this case its fine; I, and we totally understand." Prentiss reached out to comfort her.

"We got them back, we got Gideon back, but more importantly we know who she is." Prentiss knew that it wasn't much of a comfort for her to know.

"Samantha Martinez, father Julio and mother Mia born in Yuma while her parents and older brother Hernán were immigrating from Tabatinga, Brazil to..." Penelope hit the keyboard a few times, "survey say's," she stopped again, without typing this time, "Sioux Falls, South Dakota."

"When?" The team, all for the exception of Reid, chimed in.

The momentary humorous break the 'jinx' offered, gave the team a chance to get re-motivated and focused. "If they are from Brazil, it seems odd to me that She would tell you," Garcia motioned to JJ, "you should get a Peruvian nanny."

"That's because Samantha's heritage is Peruvian," Gideon put down an old case and pushed it in the direction of Reid, "am I Spencer?"

JJ looked confused, and tired, "What's he mean Spence?"

"Her parent's evisceration was my first case." He dropped his head into his hand, "How the fuck didn't I notice that?" Reid stood to his feet and slammed his hands onto the table, which was a bad choice, do to the stitches he'd received earlier that day, "I'm sorry."

"Reid, sit down!" Gideon yelled loudly and slowly.

The good mood the jinx produced was all but lost by Reid's oddly exaggerated response. "I'm sorry." He said again, in a voice sprinkled heavily with cancerous guilt. "She was only six when they were dismembered by her fathers boss. Julio worked on a llama farm, the owner a border patrolling racist tweaker. He thought that Julio was stealing money from him so he took Julio's heart." Reid looked at his hand, which was bleeding again, "Samantha's mother got her heart torn from her chest in the same ritualistic manner, that Julio's was. It was all similar in a way to what the Azteks did. I locked her brother up for almost a month and a half until I finally figured it all out."

The room was watching Reid talk, almost of the edge of tears, and bleeding across his small section of the table. The room jumped when his phone rang. It was a catalyst that returned him to his small corner of reality, on a tall stool that over looked all possible human knowledge. "Hello?" he asked sullenly.


End file.
